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Info Absolution (Summary - List of stories) . The Innocent Dove << previous act | Act 1 of 4 | next act >> Something New, Something Old << Act 1 | Chapter 1 of 39 '''| next chapter >> << previous scene | '''Scene 2 of 2 | next scene >> Summary * Location: *Participants: *Time: *Summary: Text Straw Crown was not happy: it was two in the morning, the Royal Guards had all but rousted him out of his bed, and all he wanted to do was go back to his home in Canterlot and sleep off the hangover he'd gotten from looking a little too deep into the whiskey bottle last night. But then again, he'd thought he'd have a day off, for once... "Horses of Heaven, is this even in our jurisdiction?" asked the old, graying unicorn tiredly, dressed in a rumpled, ugly black suit as he frowned at the distance, noting the walls of some village close enough to be seen even under the shroud of night. "It looks like there's a town less than a mile away..." "It doesn't matter. We found it on the thoroughfare in open land. Therefore it was reported to Canterlot, therefore it is treated as the barony's problem, not Ponyville's." retorted a soldier, and Crown glared over at him before he grumbled as he noted he was wearing the heavy-duty purple armor of a Captain of the Guard, not the standard soldier. Not someone worth picking a fight with, in other words. There were at least twenty Royal Guards tromping all over the area, although they'd at least had sense to mark off the area around the dead body. Spheres of light floated here and there in the air, lighting it clearly, and he could see several enormous freight wagons in the distance, the coroner frowning before he asked finally: "What were you doing out here, anyway?" "Returning from a late night supply run to Ponyville on her majesty's orders." the Captain replied calmly, becoming more professional and less hostile as he continued: "We would not have spotted the body amongst the scrub, except for the fact that I had Pegasus patrols scanning the fields. We've been having bandit problems... I didn't expect we'd find one of these things, though." Crown nodded slowly as he carefully made his way forwards, horn glowing and opening the satchel at his side even as he frowned in distaste at the sight of the body, muttering: "This is the fourth or fifth I've had the... dubious pleasure of dealing with. If Ponyville is the closest town we'll need to move the body to the morgue there for further examination..." The Captain of the Guard grunted, but Crown only shook his head, saying sourly: "Don't think I like it any more than you do. But apparently Ponyville was also the site of the worst attacks during the war with Decretum, all those years ago... then again, I don't know more than rumors myself." The coroner turned his attention back to the body as he carefully ducked under the ropes marking off the area, and he approached the body: it didn't look like there had been a struggle of any kind, but it was very clearly dead, and already reeked of decay. Despite the visible rot, it didn't look as abnormal as some of the so-called 'Clockwork Ponies' did, but it was still enough to make him shudder and mutter: "Sickening. Abominations, all of them." Metal plates lined its half-rotted body, and it had some kind of tubing that had fallen loose here and there from it. There had been some kind of glass tube over its back, but this had been shattered by some tremendous force, and the goop inside had leaked out all around the creature like blood. Yet strangest of all, even as the unicorn carefully looked back and forth, he couldn't see any signs of battery or combat. Except for that broken tube... He frowned thoughtfully as a notepad floated out of his satchel, along with a pencil, beginning to rapidly jot down notes as he asked meditatively: "Captain, is this the state you found the body in?" "We haven't touched a thing... frankly, I think my troops and I both were too afraid to. It looks diseased." The Captain of the Guard made a disgusted face, shaking his head slowly. "Do you think someone else was here before us? How did it die?" "One thing at a time..." The coroner leaned down, reaching out hesitantly and touching the side of the glass tube, and then he nodded hesitantly. "Yes, this was smashed... likely postmortem, from the lack of any sign of struggle or even movement. This body has been settling here, dead, for quite some time. Something was taken out of it..." He shook his head slowly, then sighed as he looked over his shoulder into his satchel and muttered: "Wonderful. I forgot my gloves... well, it doesn't matter." All the same, he hesitated for a moment before reaching forwards, carefully grasping either side of the Clockwork Pony's head as the Captain of the Guard grimaced and leaned towards him, asking apprehensively: "Are you sure you should be touching that thing?" "It looks like it died of natural causes... besides, it's been dead for quite some time now. If a disease rampaged through its body, by now it's likely broken down itself, from the state of decay... besides, anything particularly virulent would have already infected your soldiers or possibly even reached Ponyville." the coroner muttered, leaning down, beginning to carefully move the Clockwork Pony's head to the side to try and get a better look at some of the tubing... and he cursed in shock, falling backwards and scrambling away when the corpses' whole head snapped off, hitting the ground before collapsing into brittle pieces of half-petrified flesh and metal. The coroner breathed hard in and out, staring at the hollow neck of the creature as the Captain of the Guard gritted his teeth, then asked sharply: "And what the hell was that?" "Decomposition is... is much more advanced than I thought..." The coroner shook his head, then he sighed and reached up to wipe sweat off his forehead, absently pressing his hoof to one eye before cursing under his breath as he felt something wet on it. He drew his hoof quickly back, then grimaced at the sight of the dark goo on it before he shook his head tiredly, feeling another throb of pain from his hangover. "Alright, there's nothing I can do here, the corpse is going to fall apart if I try to run any exams. Get... get your troops to put it on a stretcher, and carry it carefully back to Ponyville. I'll examine it there tomorrow. I'm going to hitch a ride with your convoy back to Canterlot so I can get some sleep." "Are you sure about this? Don't we have to examine that thing immediately?" asked the Captain of the Guard pessimistically, and the coroner shot him a sour look, even as his horn glowed to pick up his dropped notebook and shove it back in his pack. "Yes, I'm very sure. I've been doing my job for twenty-five years. How long have you been doing yours?" he asked waspishly, and that finally shut the Captain of the Guard up before the coroner sighed and made his way towards the freight wagons, feeling his headache give another throb. "The Ponyville hospital has a serviceable morgue. Make sure your soldiers tell them it's restricted access, otherwise we'll end up dealing with medical students and unpleasant characters like Kilby Kwolek." "Right." the Captain of the Guard muttered, but the coroner wasn't paying attention anymore. Instead, Crown found his way towards one of the freight wagons and let himself into the back, finding a place to sit down between the strapped-down crates and rubbing slowly at his face as he sighed tiredly. His hangover was getting worse... or maybe by now it was a stress headache. He was too old for these long late nights, after all, and all the years he'd spent doing this were catching up to him. It was a long, uncomfortable ride back to Canterlot, and Crown shivered as they let himself out of the freight car downtown, so he wouldn't have too far to walk, at least. He slowly paced through the streets, looking nervously back and forth before his eyes locked on the sight of several Nightmares pacing through the street, staring around with fascination. He hurried into an alley to bypass them, muttering to himself: "Horses of Heaven, this is why I hate nights most of all..." By now, it was well-known that dark creatures roamed Canterlot in the deep of night... some were even brazen enough to do it during the early evening, when ponies were still walking around. And for some reason, Baroness Celestia allowed them to: she had even announced that she had made some sort of treaty with them several years ago, and they were to be treated and respected as equal citizens. "Nonsense." Crown mumbled, hurrying down the ally and turning down another street... but he was halted shortly by a fit of coughing, stumbling up against the side of a building as he hacked and wheezed. Then he shook his head with a shiver, grasping at his face and breathing hard... but after a few moments, the fit of whatever it had been passed, and he smiled weakly, muttering: "And here I thought I could handle my alcohol better..." He shook his head slowly, then rubbed quietly at his face before walking quickly onwards, breathing a little heavily through his mouth. Thankfully, he made it home without further event, heading up to his apartment. His wife was still asleep, at least, and Crown felt envious of her, sleeping comfortably in bed. Instead of heading to sleep himself, he decided to have a quick shower, hopefully wash away the worst of his soreness and that dirty feeling that had been left behind from the corpse of the Clockwork Pony. The shower was quick, but it did make him feel a lot better: afterwards, he crawled into bed, dropped his face in a pillow, and went almost immediately into a deep, heavy slumber. But in the depths of his sleep, he dreamed, dreams that he would only vaguely remember come the morning, dreams that made him toss and turn for most of the night. Of a glowing gemstone, and electricity, and pumping poisons: of fire rampaging through his veins, and of something hungry and evil that had been locked away beginning to raise its head, beginning to come back to its senses. Of the broken corpse of a Clockwork Pony, laying in ruin in the morgue, the body dead... but oh, most certainly there was something inside that broken hulk that was still alive, still hungry, and gaining sentience... When morning came, Crown sat slowly up and rubbed at his face tiredly, then he groaned in disgust as he sniffled loudly and blinked puffy, achy eyes. All the drinking he'd done last night had likely combined with the cold autumn air and given him a headcold. He grumbled under his breath as he carefully slipped to the edge of the bed, cursed his wife for being perfectly healthy and still asleep, and half-flopped to his hooves, smacking his lips loudly as he mumbled: "Well, I'll send a letter to Ponyville and tell the attendants at the morgue to start the exam without me. I'll head over late tonight or tomorrow to review their findings, that should be fine." Crown nodded to himself thoughtfully, looking down... and then he sneezed loudly before groaning and cursing his luck, rubbing at his puffy eyes tiredly. It was going to be a long day. Category:Transcript Category:Story